Obsidian Journal
The Obsidian Journal was a secret text, written by Kuni Shunsuke who made forbidden journeys into the Shadowlands and wrote of what he saw there. Kuni Shunsuke committed seppuku to silence the call of the Shadowlands. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 127 Excerpts * “The swordsman bled from two dozen cuts, each of which would have brought down any samurai. Finally, one last spear from our bushi found his chest, and he died.” “I swear to you, he did die. I am sure of that. Yet I can scarcely bring myself to write what we witnessed next, as his corpse dragged itself up to stand and face us again. It was only through use of a torch that we were finally able to put an end to him.” * “Sakori is lost to us. During our recent excursions, she gradually grew more and more obsessed with the thought of using the enemy's own power against him. She pored over every scrap of knowledge we acquired, following it down ever-darker paths.” “I was brought news this morning that she was gone. She has been found nowhere within the castle, and none along the Wall have reported seeing her. Her bed was not slept in. I can only assume that she's out there somewhere, in the Shadowlands, drawn further away from who she once was with every step.” Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 128 * “We sent a patrol out yesterday. Only Akihiro returned. He says that one by one, his comrades fell to a series of mishaps. Ome was bitten by a snake. Yayoi fell from a precipice. Kanbei drowned in quicksand. It was as if fate had abandoned each of them, save Akihiro.” “He will bear closer watching.” * “A man was killed trying to get over the Wall today. At least, it appeared to be a man. When our soldiers cut him down, his blood was putrescence itself, flowing like poison from his body, and those whom it touched fell ill.” “Five guards are now struck by this grave sickness, and our monks tend to them as best they can.” * “Even now, I know that the fingers of shadow have reached too deeply within me, for although I am surrounded by family and clan, I feel no kinship. They seem distant to me, as if viewed through a glass. I wonder how much of myself is truly left.” - Final entry of the journal * “I was called to examine the sleeping Hiruma, who returned several weeks ago from a long patrol. She was loudly crying out in opposition to something, an argument of which we could hear only one side. Such was her fervor that it took several of her comrades to hold her down, and her face was wet with tears and sweat. Nearly an hour later, she collapsed, nodding her head. “The next I heard of her was when a visiting Crane took offense at her words. Both died soon after.” Shadowlands: The Essential Guide to the Dominion of Fu Leng, p. 99 * “We on the Wall watch to the south, but not enough of us watch each other. My fellow Kuni do this for those known to be Tainted, especially those in the Barracks of the Damned, but this is a task all of us must take on. I chastise myself as well as our clan in this. “The only sign was when his weapons fell and struck the parapet stones. We could only gasp as he leapt over the side and crawled, limbs akimbo like a spider, headfirst down the Wall to disappear into the darkness at the bottom.” * “Long before I set out past the Wall, I had a friend. A good one. We had our gempuku the same day. We were Crab, we knew of the Taint, and we knew of our duty should it appear in us. “He went missing in for weeks. When I broke into his hovel, I found only a huddled mass of pale, gristly flesh, shot through with thick chitin. It took me long minutes to find the head and remove it.” Shadowlands: The Essential Guide to the Dominion of Fu Leng, p. 100 * “The report was simple: one of the patrol had simply vanished in the night. No signs of struggle, no cries for help. Only what remained of a jade finger, now a puddle of dark tar. Why its owner did not report this days earlier, when the patrol could have safely returned, is unknown. “Others of the patrol were lost on the way back, the butchery displayed horrible in the extreme. What is worse is that two peasants in a nearby village were found today. The same claw marks marred their flesh.” * “I can feel it. Stronger now, stronger than yesterday. Soon it will be stronger than I am. “I see those around me and cannot see anything about them. Their faces are obscured, and their voices muffled, as if under a cloth. All are as puppets…except the wounded. Their torn flesh. Their bloodied limbs. Only long meditation can clear my head, and I fear one day that will not be enough. I must end it, before it ends me.” Category:Rokugani Books (TCG)